Crack in anchor locker floor - water ingress into closed space - HELP!

[LiveCat6]

Hi Everyone,

pics here:

https://imgur.com/a/LrfcJF2

I'm experiencing some scope creep as I'm in the process of replacing my anchor chain, and decided to clean and paint my anchor locker, and found a crack in the floorboard which was letting water in when I washed the locker down.

I'm being told by some parties that I need to remove the floor and put a fresh board down and re-glass it in.

Others are saying I can probably get away with griding around the cracked area and glassing overtop of that.

I've also been told that methyl hydrate (or maybe its something else i['m not sure) can absorb water if sprayed onto the area that's been subjected to moisture ingress.

I got down into the access hatch as you can see on my one diagram and drilled a hole through the bottom of the vertical mini forward bulkhead to allow the suspected water to drain and boy did it drain.

Probably about 20 litres of water came out with about 1 litre of rust sludge at the bottom of the compartment. I've flushed inside that area as best as I could with freshwater.

Any thoughts on this? questions? experiences with similar issues?

I'm not worried that the floor is going to give way, and if it does it would be noticed the next time I anchor, but what i've been told is that that floor also acts as a horizonal brace to make the hull at the bow stronger.

Lots of force gets transmitted through the bow while sailing and while at anchor...

I dont want to cut corners but this also could turn into a huge ass job if I'm not careful.

Would appreciate any insight at all or further questions that I can answer to help shed light on this.

Thanks kindly!

[Island Time O25]

Not an expert by any means but the solution is obvious to my layperson's eyes.

Cut away the floor of the anchor locker leaving as much fiberglass around the perimeter as is nonrotten but at least 2-3" wide, may be 4" or more if possible. Do all the prep afterward i.e. sanding of the perimeter, etc. Epoxy
1/2" or 5/8" or even 3/4" marine grade plywood the size of the anchor floor on its both sides and edges with fb cloth. Prior to installing fill the blue shaded forward area with waterproof foam or some such. Same as used in many "unsinkable" boats. Don't skimp on fb tape around the edges and corners as the floor will support 100s of #s of chain+anchor. You may want to bolt through the perimeter to your new floor over it using the bolts as clamps for the epoxy. Easier done with the nuts on top.

The job sounds worse that it actually is. The worst part will be cutting away the old floor and prepping the perimeter for epoxying. To cut down on labor I would do "wet on wet" fb epoxying of the plywood. Then wrap it up in plastic sheeting to speed up cure time. I would not bother with heavy sanding afterward, if any, as it will be the bottom of the chain locker and not a seat or some such. Just enough to get it painted over.